Candidate Questions 10: What about those DCCs anyway?
Development Cost Charges (DCCs) have been a source of controversy for a few years now. Do low DCCs encourage development or merely subsidize real estate speculators while passing the burden along to feckless local taxpayers? Gulp. The question, then, is this: "Given the state of the economy, prospects for growth in Rossland,...
EDITORIAL: A convivial approach to campaigning...the Telegraph's 'beers and ballots' event
This coming Thursday evening, at 7pm the Rossland Telegraph will be hosting an informal discussion with the candidates at the Red Room lounge in the Prestige. Pithily named 'beers and ballots', the goal is to allow ordinary folks to sit down with other ordinary folks (your candidates) for a pleasant chat about local issues,...
Candidate Questions 8: Rossland is known as a ski town. How can we increase tourism in the other three seasons? Is that even desirable?
Rossland self-identifies as a 'ski town', but the long term viability of this city demands either an expansion of Red or a need for diversification of this identity. Hence today's question: "Rossland’s economy currently depends on winter tourists. How do you perceive Rossland's relationship with Red Mountain? How can we...
COMMENT: In response to Andrew Bennett’s Nov 12th Item
I think most Rosslanders agree that provisions for higher density housing forms to lower costs are a good idea. These thoughts are crystallized in the 2008 Official Community Plan in section 18.2. However, the OCP also recognizes the risks of radically changing neighbourhoods. The following section of the OCP at 18.3.4...
COMMENT: The justification of massacre and the elusive goal of peace
Today we consider the great terror of war; Remembrance Day swells each of our chests differently, but the same. Emotions are strong, or should be. Whether we know it or not, both as individuals and societies, our past and present are infused with war. That should terrify us.Wars build in a wave of motives and he-said-she-saids...
Stephen Harper’s social engineering
The Harper government’s announcement that it will change the laws regarding capital gains taxes to encourage more charitable giving strikes an ominous note for the country’s political culture. Harper is mimicking the Conservatives in Britain who are trying to pull the same trick with what they call the Big Society initiative...
OP/ED: MP says trade agreements like NAFTA hurting B.C. economy
The B.C. economy is closely tied in with various trade agreements such as NAFTA, the Agreement on International Trade and the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWTA) between BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan which replaces the Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA). There is concern by those who represent workers that these agreements interfere with […]
Candidate Questions 3: Should Rossland seek to expand its population and tax base?
One perrenial issue here in town is our rather anaemic tax base. Trail has Teck, whose taxes heavily subsidize life down the hill. Rossland, on the other hand, has no industry and no large employers other than the seaonal Red Resort. As our recreation programs face funding challenges, we asked the candidates, "Should Rossland...
Will the candidates commit to creating a new recreation deal?
To the editor:A couple of mornings ago, I was listening to the latest news on the Eurozone (17 independent states, 13 official languages, over 330 million inhabitants...) After hearing of these nations’ immense political effort to finally reach a financial deal to try and bring to a halt the slide into economic chaos, I could...
Greenpeace returns ocean destruction to Canadian tuna giant Clover Leaf
Greenpeace activists visited Clover Leaf Seafoods’ Canadian headquarters this morning to return cases of the company’s canned tuna products and deliver a platter of simulated marine life remains, representing the wasteful fisheries the company sources from. “Canadian consumers deserve better than Clover Leaf’s canned ocean ...
